


Taeminphobia

by Claw512



Category: K-pop, SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Kim Jongin | Kai-centric, M/M, Oblivious, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26714416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Claw512/pseuds/Claw512
Summary: Lucas caught a bad case of Taeminphobia. Jongin just wants to know why. No one in this house is helping.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Lee Taemin/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 7
Kudos: 87





	Taeminphobia

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Тэминофобия](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27954413) by [berlikosh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/berlikosh/pseuds/berlikosh)



> Stream Criminal!!!

Sometimes Jongin couldn’t sleep because of... reasons, so he went on the internet and read weird stuff. Like last week, when he spent two hours finding out what phobias and philias are, and how many types there are for each, which was why he was a little obsessed with them at the moment. For example, Taemin for sure had entomophobia, and Baekhyun had the same thing.

Lucas, Jongin decided, is Taeminphobic.

To explain this in a very simple way, Lucas is dead scared of Taemin.

Jongin would have found Lucas’ apparent Taeminphobia so amusing if it wasn’t... well, actually kind of sad. He couldn’t figure out why Lucas was so petrified of Taemin, sweet, shy Taemin and his cutesy awkward laugh. But Lucas was. Terrified, in fact. So much so that most of the time he couldn’t even look straight at the SHINee maknae. Around Taemin, Lucas had this habit of making himself small and quiet. Yes, big, boisterous Lucas with his infectious loud laughter and booming voice. He would slouch, draw his shoulders in just a little bit, touch his heels together in a clear fidgety gesture or position himself further away from Taemin. He even laughed quieter, a high-pitched nervous string of giggles instead of his usual obnoxious (adorable) cackle. Granted, Lucas was quite shy around the non-NCT members of SuperM at the start, but he had warmed up plenty to Baekhyun and Jongin. He even dared to tease Baekhyun in his bratty way now, and practically followed Jongin around like a little puppy.  
  
Yet, to Taemin, who was the nicest of them all, Lucas couldn’t even meet his eyes.

Jongin found this intriguing.

It wasn’t like he was bored, or lacked things to do with his jampacked schedule, but he found the little mystery hard to ignore since it, more often than not, happened right before his eyes. After they’d greeted the camera, they would break off to find their seats. Sometimes, Taemin unknowingly stumbled back towards Lucas, and that was enough to make the boy flinch away like he thought Taemin was about to hit him. If Taemin addressed him directly, Lucas’s blood drained from his face quicker than Baekhyun’s blood pressure going up whenever Jongin was involved. The SHINee maknae sat down somewhere, and Lucas would try his best to not sit in that general area, even as he hung around close enough that it wouldn’t be too suspicious, clearly trying to hide his Taeminphobia to not make things awkward. They had already had to deal with enough adjustment and acclimatisation, being from three different groups, being in a new country. It would be rather unwise to add one more problem.

He is a thoughtful kid, Lucas, Jongin thought, even when Taemin scares him that much.

Jongin told Baekhyun about this, and his hyung stared at him like he found out Jongin just failed a very important exam because he wasn’t being careful and didn’t double-check his answers. He stared until Jongin got huffy and broke eye contact first to leave the room. He bumped into Lucas and Taemin in the hallway, walking in opposite directions, and caught Lucas aggressively trying to turn himself into a pancake against the wall so that Taemin could pass by him. The hallway wasn’t wide, but that was such an unnecessary thing to do. Lucas stayed flattened for an extra two beats after Taemin had walked away, before peeling himself off and hastily continued his way.

Jongin was sure he wasn’t the only person who noticed.

More than once now, he had caught Ten looking at Lucas in the middle of his Taeminphobia freak-out, and Ten’s reaction seemed very similar to himself overall. The Thai boy would sigh very quietly, and shook his head minutely, but then he would smile very fondly. He seemed a little exasperated but enamoured at the same time, which Jongin understood. As much as it was weird, it was also cute to see Lucas’s fear-based response to what was basically a human-sized cotton candy, sprinkled with fairy dust and an emptyheaded destructive tendency. Ten would be the best person to help Jongin figure this thing out. Except, when Jongin brought it up, Ten stared at him in confusion like the boy wasn’t multilingual, apologised for not understanding since “Korean wasn’t his first language” and then slinked away quicker than Lucas after seeing Taemin walking towards him.

Mark didn’t seem to notice, at least not in the way that Ten and Jongin did. But he also looked rather puzzled whenever Lucas’s soul left his body because of something Taemin related. Sometimes, the seat arrangement just happened to put Lucas next to Taemin. The boy from Hong Kong then spent the entire time with a faraway look in his eyes like he was trying to mentally escape from the situation. Other times, he looked the opposite. His body tensed up so much Jongin half-expected him to bolt away in the middle of it all to crazily shake his body like Taemin once did to escape from a bug that had gotten on his head. Jongin reckoned Lucas’s behaviour was a suppressed version of that, except Taemin was so cute? How could Lucas perceive him like a bug? Mark observed his friend with a titled head like a confused puppy, also very cute, but Jongin doubted he would be able to help solve the puzzle.

Taeyong didn’t seem to notice, at all. He watched Lucas choke on air and turn nearly purple after Taemin jokingly hit his back like it was a thing that should happen, like Taemin’s hamster fists would be able to hurt Lucas. Worse, Lucas, as big as he is, is usually quite graceful with his movement. But, whenever Taemin was around, suddenly it was like Lucas’ arms were too long for him, his legs too gangly, and he started moving like a newborn foal. He would trip over his own feet, drop things, especially if that thing was what Taemin just gave him. Taemin, a small walking calamity in his own right, barely noticed that Lucas’ clumsiness was out of the norm. Taeyong, probably a closeted airhead, also barely noticed.

Jongin didn’t know if Taemin knew. He didn’t treat Lucas any different than he treated the other hoobae. He spent time correcting Lucas’s posture during their dance practice sessions and commenting on Lucas’s surprise agility and the strength in his body like he would Taeyong, Mark and Ten. (Except Mark, Taeyong and Ten didn’t hold their breath with a tight, nervous smile until Taemin walked away. At least not anymore). He made sure to check on Lucas occasionally, be it during filming or just a normal conversation, to make sure he wasn’t behind everyone or left out, like he would the other three. (Except, again, the other three didn’t startle so hard Jongin could see it ten meters away when Taemin called their names). Jongin wondered if Taemin was oblivious, or he knew but pressed on anyway to try and smooth things over. He also wondered if he should ask Taemin, but he didn’t want to make things awkward between him and Lucas if it was the former.

He definitely should not ask Lucas. One, he couldn’t think of a tactful way to approach this. Two, Lucas was already so jumpy that Jongin would probably do more harm than good to his psyche. After all, if no one around you raised the problem, then you could still afford to pretend that the problem didn’t exist. Beside, they were close enough that he was sure the sweet boy would approach Jongin himself if he needed help. And so, he tried to support Lucas without making a big deal out of it. He invited the boy to hang out, spent time doing things together with him and talked to him whenever Lucas wanted to.

Jongin felt like this group had collectively one brain cell and only he knew how to use it.

Jongin told Kyungsoo this the next time he was allowed to ring him. It was a hassle arranging the time for it. Damn time zones. Kyungsoo listened very attentively. Although, Jongin wondered if it was because he wasn’t here to give him the judgy eyes like Baekhyun had done. Nah, not Kyungsoo hyung. But, after Jongin’s looooong story about how one of the babies of the group was terrified of the other baby of the group, Kyungsoo laughed very lowly on the other side, didn’t really comment, and asked Jongin how he was doing instead.

Ah, Jongin missed him.

He spent half the time listening to Kyungsoo describe his military life. There wasn’t much day-to-day variation, and most of the stories were similar to those Kyungsoo had told him before. Still, they were all important, because they were all pieces of hyung’s life that Jongin wanted to be a part of, and because Jongin loved his voice and loved listening to him. They had known each other for that long now, but Kyungsoo never failed to cause some big, overly excited butterflies to flutter madly in Jongin’s stomach. He had a serious case of Kyungsoophilia for sure. As he listened to Kyungsoo, there was a faint idea about something that started to form in Jongin’s mind. However, it was too intangible for him to catch.

The phone call with Kyungsoo made it hard for him to sleep, like it usually did. It wasn’t a terribly uncomfortable feeling. The butterflies just refused to settle down. Jongin glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table. 2AM. He sat up on his bed, as noiselessly as he could. On the other side of the room, Mark was snoring softly away, showing no sign of waking up. Quietly, Jongin got off the bed and tiptoed out of the room.

He headed towards the kitchen, determined to get a light snack and some water. When Jongin entered the living room, the light drew his attention to the outside. Through the glass panels that made up the sliding doors, he could see Taemin and Lucas standing opposite each other on the porch in the backyard. His brows went up in surprise. Lucas’s hands were behind his back, his head was hanging low, and he was looking down at his shuffling feet like a naughty student being berated by his teacher. Taemin was saying something, but it was too muffled for Jongin to hear.

All of a sudden, Taemin jumped up into the air. Bugs, Jongin thought. Honestly, standing outside, in the middle of the night, under a very bright light, he didn’t know what Taemin expected. As he was standing near the edge of the porch, Taemin immediately lost his balance. Out of reflect and concern for his best friend, Jongin rushed forwards a few steps, preparing to run outside to protect Taemin. He stopped, however, as Lucas rendered his action redundant. It was honestly impressive. Lucas caught Taemin with one arm and flung the other in the air. Jongin could only guess that he’d caught the bug as well, because he then rubbed his palm on the back of his shorts before turning towards Taemin with concern, and then...

Jongin wanted to slap himself.

And then Lucas kissed Taemin, because of course he would want to. The idea that had formed during the phone call with Kyungsoo earlier finally became clear in Jongin’s head. It wasn’t Taeminphobia that caused all of Lucas’s unusual behaviours, rather, it was the opposite. It was Taeminphilia.

As Jongin watched with mouth hanging open, Taemin straightened up to kiss Lucas, and the younger boy leaned back to follow his lead. Like that, Taemin had to stand slightly on tiptoe to reach Lucas. He lined their bodies up and pushed himself firmly into the WayV boy, who widened his stance to effortlessly support the weights of the both of them. The veteran dancer put his tiny hands on Lucas’s shoulders at the same time Lucas’s arms wound around his also tiny waist and pulled him even closer. Jongin wasn’t one to take the Lord’s name in vain, but Jesus, Taemin was so _small_ all over, especially fitting in Lucas’s hold like that. The tall boy’s eyes were close, but there was a visible hunger that etched itself on the elegant features of his face as he deepened the kiss. One of Lucas’s hands went to Taemin’s head, combed into his soft hair, and dead was the image of the shy, nervous boy in Jongin’s mind.

The sound of cricket was loud in the quietness of the night.

“What the...” Jongin heard a soft gasp behind him. He turned around to see Ten standing there, mug in his hand, hair sticking up in all directions.

“Hyung...” Ten started, then stepped forward and took Jongin by the wrist and pulled him back deeper into the darkness of the house. Jongin doubted that those two could have seen him anyway, with him standing inside and them being that occupied with each other, but he went willingly regardless.

They stood looking at each other in bewildered silence for a few seconds, both trying to not look at what was happening right outside.

"Hyung." Ten said again, clearing his throat. “Kitchen?”

“Kitchen.” Jongin nodded.

They shuffled into the kitchen which, thankfully, did not have a view of the backyard. Jongin sat down at the table while Ten got them both some milk.

They drank the milk.

They drank some water.

And then they looked at each other again.

“What did I just see?” Jongin started.

Ten huffed out a laugh. “Hopefully the start of something good. I was getting worried for a bit there.”

“You knew?” Jongin blinked.

“Of course I did. Baekhyun hyung and I had known for weeks.” Ten grinned. “Sorry for not explaining it to you. It wasn’t any of my business.”

“Well, it certainly made for an entertaining mystery.”

“Didn’t it?” Ten stood up. When he walked by where Jongin was sitting, he touched his shoulder very lightly. “I’m going back to bed. Sleep early, hyung.”

“Okay, Ten. Good night.” Jongin answered.

He wanted to talk to Kyungsoo so badly.

As it turned out, it wasn’t him who knew how to use their sole brain cell after all.

The next day, Jongin smiled and greeted his friends like nothing happened. And, even if he noticed Taemin's tiny fairy hand being enveloped in Lucas's, he only shared a secret smile with Ten, and didn't say a word.

**Author's Note:**

> Taemin's hands have been extra smol these days I can't help it


End file.
